


Snapshots

by eveningstar477



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Jack is actually dead, Loss, Steve and Daniel are ~dead~
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25898305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveningstar477/pseuds/eveningstar477
Summary: It's 1955, and Peggy Carter adds another photograph to her collection.
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Jack Thompson, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Snapshots

**Author's Note:**

> Super short, sorry. Also sorry, this is really sad. I'll explain myself at the end.

1955, Washington D.C.

The picture frame was simple, made of wood. Unembellished, like the person in the photo it held would have wanted.

Peggy felt tears well up involuntarily as she gazed at the image. Yet another lost loved one to add to her desk. She sniffed and dashed away the tears with the back of her hand. It never got any easier, but that didn’t mean that she was going to break down. At least not now, not in her office, where any of her agents could walk in. 

She gave a wistful glance at the new picture’s neighbors. All men she’d treasured, once. Now, they were the reason she kept fighting, the reason she would never give up on S.H.I.E.L.D. and what it stood for.

The first picture was of Steve. The real Steve, before the serum. The Steve that she’d fallen in love with, who’s heart was so much bigger than anyone she’d ever met. Who’s infallible willingness to help others had made him perfect for project Rebirth. The person she aspired to be, selfless and a champion for those who couldn’t yet stand up for themselves. Someone who in turn inspired others.

The second picture was of Jack Thompson. She’d caught him with his guard down, for once, dressed casually in suspenders and a shirt, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Classic smirk on his face, but it was less guarded than usual, more genuine, for he’d been laughing at something. Unlike the other two men on her desk, Peggy had never loved Jack in the romantic sense. Instead, she longed for what their friendship could have been. Before he’d been shot and bled out in his L.A. hotel room, she’d seen sparks, glimpses of what her life could’ve been like if he’d lived. Her and Daniel, together, married, with children, and Jack, bickering as always, but there. A steady rock, a friend she trusted with her life. Someone that she trusted with her husband’s life, and her children’s. 

And the newest addition to her collection. Daniel Sousa. The picture was one Rose had taken, years ago, when Peggy had first arrived in L.A. and Daniel had taken her to the beach. He was grinning, looking at her, but she wasn’t in the picture. Peggy couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks this time. Though it had been nearly seven years since they’d seen each other outside of a very formal work setting, his loss was devastating. In the end, it had been Jack’s loss that had broken them. After his death, they’d stayed together for about a month, but they’d both been grieving, and Peggy eventually moved back to New York to take Jack’s position as Chief, and they stopped keeping in touch. Then, the SSR had fallen apart, and Peggy had taken it upon herself to start S.H.I.E.L.D. 

She’d never expected to lose Daniel, though. She knew that their jobs were dangerous, of course. But after everything he’d been through, everything they’d been through, it seemed so improbable. Jarvis’s call had come as a shock, and suddenly she was drowning in grief, for the third time.

Now, a week later, she placed his photo on her desk in line with the others. She would remember them, she promised herself. Their lives would not be in vain.

**Author's Note:**

> Ironically, I finished this and then realized it didn't quite fit into either of the two timelines I originally imagined. The one in which SHIELD and Endgame happen, where Steve goes back to be with Peggy in the year 1949, and Daniel ends up with the SHIELD team and falls in love with Daisy. In this timeline, as I explained in the fic, I think Jack is dead, and that's the original reason Peggy and Daniel broke up, not Steve's arrival. In this case, Peggy and Daniel were over, and then Steve showed up in 1949 and he and Peggy got together. (That's why this fic doesn't quite fit, because here Peggy still thinks Steve is dead in 1955....but it's a multiverse, folks!)
> 
> In the other timeline, Jack lives, and Peggy and Daniel stay together and the three of them are friends and everyone is happy :D. (See my fic "Chest Injuries and the Flu Don't Mix" for something in this universe. Also keep an eye out for more, cause I'm bored in quarantine)
> 
> If you made it this far, thanks for reading my fic and putting up with my ranting. Comments truly make my day - huge thank you to anyone who has left kudos or a comment on anything I've written. Also, prompts are cool! My Tumblr is eveningstar477.tumblr.com


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